Phil Lilley

Took out a couple of friends on the upper lake last evening. Boated to the dam about 6 p.m. and fished till dark. Three units and 5 spill gates at Table Rock dam, 10,000 cfs release. I read 75 degrees on the south side and 58 on the worth. Most of the water down from Trophy Run is about 60 degrees. We drifted mainly down the middle of the lake using 1/8th ounce white jigs. My 2 friends have fished with me before but I would still call them novice jig anglers. I had them throw out to the side and let the jig go close to the bottom, jigging up and letting it fall as it worked to the upstream end of the boat. When the jig gets close to the bottom, it's taken upstream because the water close to the bottom is moving slower because of friction--the bottom is slowing it down. We boated may be 25 rainbows and a couple of browns. We had a mixed bag of sizes--from 12 to 18 inches. The browns were 12 and 17 inches. We missed a lot of strikes and a bunch of fish got off on the retrieve. This morning I took Ryan and his little brother Joey out. We left the dock at 6:45 a.m. and headed to the dam. Same flow conditions as the evening before. On the first drift, the rainbows bit good, taking their #10 white wooly buggers. It was going to be a great morning if they kept biting like this! But the second drift wasn't quite as good, and it got slower as the morning went on. Not sure if it's boat traffic that shuts them down or just a morning thing... but they had a good trip regardless. We did switch to a Y2K and an egg fly and caught some on both. Also taught them how to work a white 1/8th ounce white jig which they caught some on too. We worked the eddies around Lookout Island and caught a couple. I'd think they'd be all over that slack water and might be but we couldn't get on them. I believe they ended up with about 23 rainbows for the morning, the biggest being about 16 inches. In the past, we've seen some crazy fish come down the spill gates in to Taneycomo. We've seen carp, bass, catfish, crappie, white bass, blue gill and more. And we've seen spoonbill. This time I didn't think the gates were opened wide enough for any big fish to come through but I was wrong! This spoonbill was floating against the south bank just below the first island this morning. The gills were ripped and it was dying. We pulled it in the boat and took some pics. Joey, I know, had never seen a spoonbill before. It was a cool experience for both guys. Rick Lisek had a couple of trips this morning. They fished the same area and patterns. His young client caught this nice rainbow this morning and the second pic is of another rainbow caught this afternoon. Bill Babler also had clients this morning. He said they drifted red San Juan worms and light peach egg flies from Fall Creek down to Lilleys' and did pretty well, catching 8 rainbows on one drift at the end of their guide session. Bill also heard that other guides were telling their clients to throw out a 1.8th ounce white jig, not letting it sink but reeling it in slowly but quick enough to keep it within a few feet of the surface. They were catching fish too. Bill reported some of his rainbows, after being caught and while he was unhooking them, coughing up lots and lots of scuds, and big ones! He said they were dark brown in color and as big as a #8. That's something to try tomorrow!

"I didn't know it was possible to vaporize yourself, including past activity, as though you'd never existed. I assume you'd need admin help to accomplish that?" Yes, at his request...

Haven't measured the front of my Grizzly yet but - that's a big Spoonbill! It's gills were damaged real bad but it was still alive. Wonder what else has come over the top?

There's a cable. I think 600-800 feet?

Kory handles all that stuff but I know he said he has more donated prizes to give away than ever before. I have a custom made spinning rod from Mike Riffel he donated, same as last year.

Come compete in our last tournament of 2013 on August 17th! It’s our fifth year hosting the Guns and Hoses fishing tournament here on Lake Taneycomo! The proceeds go to the local police and fire auxiliary funds. The entry fee for each two-man ream is $75. We are offering 50% off boat rentals again this year. There will be trophies awarded to 1st through 3rd places and big fish. Raffle tickets will also be given to each team and more will be available for purchase. You can register up till 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning! Click HERE for the entry form and tournament rules! Call the office to reserve your boat – 888-545-5397!

Word is they are keeping the gates open at least through the week, may be into the weekend. We are seeing shad in the lake all the way down to the Branson Landing and trout spitting up shad that far down. This is UNPRECEDENTED in the years I've been here - for this many shad to enter the lake from the spill gates. Rick Lisek said he was one of the only boats up below the dam this morning and they had over 80 trout caught before 10:30 am on shad flies. I caught some real pigs last evening. Some of the biggest were just up and down from the Fall Creek line. All on white 1/8th oz jigs. KY3 did report yesterday or the day before on how dangerous this high water is to swimmers and boaters... they do this every time they spill water over the gates, although no boating accidents have occurred, at least on Taneycomo. I'm all for warning the public about dangerous situations but to disregard the positive side of the high water is poor. Of course I am bias in my observation!!! We do our best helping our people be safe on the water. I sent 5 guys who rented a jon boat for 3 days out in one of our pontoons instead, for the same money, because I wanted them to boat to the dam and experience this incredible fishing event. Not that jons are unsafe up there - they are as long as you don't do anything stupid like anchor or drift into trees... it was just easier for 5 to fish from a pontoon than a 5-seat jon boat... and safer. Know the rules!! A party of three here were going to the dam and fishing with the right lures but kept rainbows in the slot. They didn't know. But they know now. Release rainbows longer than 12 inches and and less than 20 inches. Over 20-inches... take a pic and release 'em, if you please. They'll get bigger for you next time. Browns have to be 20 inches to keep lake wide.

417-335-0357

There's been a bunch of freak rains in the area. Friday evening about 7:30, a rain came in here at the resort. It poured for about 5 minutes. One the other side of the ridge to the north (other side of 76), it rained over 2 inches in 30 minutes causing local flash floods. It was so localized that no one in town knew what happened expect in a small neighborhood which had a wall of water come down the small drainages. Last week, a small area south of town close to the airport got 8 inches of rain in an hour causing Turkey Creek to come out of it's banks. It blew through several businesses, taking out walls and leaving a foot of mud in buildings. Heck- it may rain in uninhabited areas but the wash may flood houses and bridges - no one even knew it rained and may be flooded out. Sounds like this what happened here. These rain events have been something else.

No indicator. Straight line to the jig or drift rig. I tried a float this evening. The turbulants are such that it takes at least a 3/32nd oz jig to get down. I set the float at 8 ft. I know it's not on the bottom. I think I got several bites but no hook ups. Straight line is so much better- so I went back to it and caught fish.

First post - a fishing report and pictures attached?! Everyone should take note! Thank you very much for the post!

There are fishing clubs in the Springfield area - trout, bass, fly fishing, spin fishing... most have fishing outings and tournaments, classes, fly tying sessions. http://smff_fff.tripod.com/ here's one.

Mike- it's tough. The water is high and in the trees close to the dam. Not impossible though. Just have to go up there and see.

Just got back in from a quick trip with my nephew Ryan. Ran to the dam and made 2 quick drifts. White jig- they hammered it. We had doubles on the entire drift to Trophy Run. 1/8th ounce. Second drift, I tied on a 1/8th oz krocidile spoon and caught 3 but Ryan did better with the white jig. Most were 17 inches plus. Most now have big ol' bellies full of shad. They're catching on! It usually takes a while for them to find out the shad are food. This is way better than a shad kill... they're just pouring over the dam.

What a week can make! In my last report, lake levels were normal and everything was copacetic. Today Table Rock Lake's level is four feet higher and the dam is running five flood gates to hold down rising water levels. We had countless rain storms move through the area dumping as much as 12 inches of rain in as little as three hours in small areas around this area. But for all the concern, we are in good shape. Table Rock has crested from the last storm at 920 feet which is 10 feet below what they would consider flood stage. Beaver Lake is just now at power pool. Taneycomo is running three units full plus five (of 10 total) flood gates but they're not running a whole lot from the gates. Table Rock Dam has a total of four turbines. One is down for maintenance and can't be operated, thus the flood gates. They're running gates to make up for the turbine they can't run. Taneycomo's lake level right now it 712 feet, 11 feet above power pool. The current up below the dam is fairly fast but not torrent. It's still safe for boating as long as you don't ANCHOR and watch where you're drifting. Because water is coming over the flood gates, there's warmer water entering the lake. Water temperature coming through the turbine (130 feet) has been about 48 degrees while the water from Table Rock coming over the flood gates (about 30 feet deep) is in the mid 70's. When below the dam in my boat, my temperature gauge has read as high as 71 degrees when on the turbine side (north side) it's about 58 degrees. On down lake, it's reading about 60 degrees. These temperatures aren't bad for trout at all. As a matter of fact, they like water temperatures in the 50's better than they like it in the 40's. They are more active and feed more aggressively. The other "cool" thing about flood gates is through them sometimes comes shad and other small fish from Table Rock. I was up fishing earlier today and saw small threadfin shad floating in the water about 3/4 mile below the dam. And yes, they like about anything white I threw. This is only the second day the flood gates have been opened. Typically, this draws trout and other species of fish up to the headwaters to feed on shad. My experience is that we find very large rainbow and brown trout showing up and biting our shad flies and white jigs we're throwing. Today's fishing verified this. I didn't catch anything longer than 20 inches but did catch quite a few rainbows in the 16-to 18-inch range. I caught one rainbow showing signs of shad gluttony (pics). That's a very good sign for us trout fishermen! As more and more trout become aware of these threadfin shad -- that they're good and easy to eat -- the fish become more plentiful and easier to catch. Today, we had to get our jigs and flies close to the bottom, which is a trick in such deep and turbulent water. I used a drift rig with a 1/4-ounce bell weigh plus I pinched a #3 or #4 split shot above the bell weight. I found out that it was best to throw a short distance from the boat, not the heave-hoe throw, and drift the rig practically under the boat. I felt the bite better and could keep track of where the lure was. I started my drift at or close to the cable below the dam and drifted down the middle of the lake, which was where the cold and water met. I drifted down to Trophy Run and headed back up. Rick Lisek, one of our fishing guides, had two trips today and reported, "the trout are mean and hungry today!" He said he saw shad floating this morning as far down lake as Cooper Creek and drifted and fished on his own after his trips from Monkey Island to the bridges using Gulp Eggs and caught rainbows that were spitting up shad. That's amazing! He said his clients caught trout drifting shad flies as well as pink or peach egg flies. He also had them cast a small 4-inch shad colored floating crank bait and just reeled it in slowly, catching some rainbows. When he was drifting down lake, using Gulp Eggs down from Monkey Island, he used less weight. He said he used 3/16-ounce bell weights on his drift rigs. Four-pound line is very ok with this water flow.

5 gates opened at 4 pm. Lake level is 712 feet with 3 units and 5 gates. That's a little higher than if all 4 units were running. Lake temp at the cable below the dam - 58 on north side and 71 on the south side. Temp was 49 before the gates were opened. Clint at the hatchery reported the DO is 4.97 ppm which isn't bad at all but of course the DO coming over the top is a lot higher than that. I got 61 degree most of the way down lake. They hammered a white jig from the cable to outlet #1 but I had a hard time getting the jig to the bottom below that so I used a drift rig, 1/4 ounce weight, and a white shad fly and caught them all the way down to Trophy Run. Dropped an egg fly below it and caught one on it. From Lookout down to the Narrows I caught a few but had a hard time hooking them. Stay in the middle of the lake. From past experience, it's going to get REAL good on shad imitations below the dam in the coming days. Might see some really big trout caught.

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No ramps are affected. Our levels aren't unusually high at all. You might have some issues boating down past Bus 65 bridge. I guess there are a couple of docks wrapped around the bridge pilings from Turkey Creek. They were blown out of the creek last night. I told someone at lunch today - I saw on the radar little spots of pink popping up on the radar last night right along the MO/AR state line. I bet one of those pink spots sat on top on the Turkey Creek drainage and dumped a ton of water, enough to flood Hollister and wash all the docks out of the creek.

Table Rock is still below 920 feet. With all the rivers and creek flooding south and east of here, it's easy to think our lakes are in trouble. They aren't. Table Rock is going to release some from their flood gates this afternoon but only because there is one of four turbines down at the dam for maintenance. They are going to release enough water through the gate(s) to make up for the down turbine- that's all for now at least. I have had VERY good fishing when the flood gates are opened at Table Rock. Water temp coming over will be between 70 and 80 degrees and water from the turbines has been about 48. Trout will avoid the warmest water but will like the mix of the two- they always have. I see no issues with fishing except "4" units of water running for a while. Yea- a boat would be best. And white jigs!!!

Wrench... they (Insurance Companies) get their monies regardless of payout. My insurance rate almost tripled last year and I'm coming up for review. And we all have to pass on that expense, so floods do create jobs but they make most everything more expensive for all. Bottom line is that we do take a chance living and working next to water and for most of us we can't afford flood insurance. And the rain... we can't make it stop or start by worrying about it.

Well, this is unusual to get so much rain in August. The possibility of the Corp opening flood gates now is looming. Most times when Table Rock's level shoots past 920 feet like it is about to usually means flood gates will open shortly. I don't mind flood gates in the winter or spring but in 2008 (or 2009, not sure) when they opened them in September, it did a number on our brown trout. I think the one good thing we have going for us is that Table Rock's water level is much cooler than normal for August. One thing's for sure... we'll have plenty of generation for quite some time now. This funky weather system needs to move off the Midwest!

I heard years ago you can get a vaccine for Lymes. Googled it and found http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/ The vaccine was discontinued in 2002 because of low demand. I remember telling a good friend who was always getting tick bites he should get the shot. But he said it was too expensive - I think it was about $300 for an annual shot.

Use weighted scuds...

After this rain I would think they'd be eating worms in the backs of coves.